As Navajo Council Naabik’iyati Committee waits for quorum, demonstrators call for end to Navajo involvement with Israel

A group of young Navajo people demonstrate against the Israelies horrific bombing of Palestine and President Ben Shelly’s financial relationship with Israel in front of the Navajo Council chambers in Window Rock, Ariz., on July 17, 2014. Photo by Marley Shebala. (Please provide proper photo credit when reusing photo.)

Here at Navajo Council Naabik’iyati Committee, which was scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. It is now 11:12 a.m. and still no quorum. One of the legislative staff said that the lack of a quorum was because many of the Council delegates are busy with other activities, such as the annual Navajo Council horseback ride to the Council’s Summer Session, which starts on July 21. Other delegates are on travel. The Naabik’iyti Committee’s Subcommittee on Sacred Sites is on travel to New York City for the United Nations World Conference on Indigenous Rights. And the Council’s Resources and Development Committee is having a meeting at Navajo Housing Authority.

Meanwhile, outside the Council chamber, a growing number of young Navajos are demonstrating against the recent bombing of Palestine by the Israelies, which according to international news reports, has killed more than 200 civilians and children. Yesterday, four Palestinian children, all siblings, were playing on a beach when a Israelie bomb killed all of them.

It’s now 11:24 a.m. and still no quorum. The proposed NAABI AGENDA once again includes Delegate Jonathan Nez’s LEGISLATION 0123-14: which would refer a referendum to the Navajo people for a vote on amending Navajo law that remove the Navajo Council as the governing body of the Navajo Nation and replace it with the Navajo people as the governing body of the Navajo Nation.

As the Navajo Council Naabik’iyati Committee wait for a quorum, Delegates Russell Begaye (holding cell phone), Nelson BeGaye (white hat) and Jonathan Nez visit in the Council chamber in Window Rock, Ariz., on July 17, 2014. In the background is Chief Legislative Counsel Levon Henry and Naabik’iyati Committee Chairperson Pro Temp LoRenzo Bates who is talking with Delegate George Apachito. Photo by Marley Shebala. (Please provide proper photo credit when reusing photo.)